


A little bird told me...

by cherrishish



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Anxiety, Conventions, Crew as Family, Eventual Romance, F/M, Filming, Fluff and Humor, On Set, Season 3, Supernatural Convention
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-14 23:45:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17518109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherrishish/pseuds/cherrishish
Summary: With the writers' strike ongoing and the very first Supernatural convention approaching, Jared has a lot to be anxious about. Good thing his PA is on top of things, ready to help wherever she can.





	A little bird told me...

“That’s a wrap!” Steve Boyum called out, thus finishing the shooting for Episode 10 of Season 3 for Supernatural.

Mira still had goosebumps on her arms from earlier in the day when she watched the filming of the scene were Jensen had to play of off himself as Dean faced off with his demonic inner self from his nightmares brought on by the dream interloper, Jeremy Frost. But she had no time to be standing around or to ponder on the theatrical merits of the actors involved, no matter how much she would have liked. She was Jared Padalecki’s PA, tasked with keeping him on schedule, taking care of his every need, be it going to the dry cleaners for him, or picking up a smoothie to drink for him.

Not that the No. 1 on the call sheet here ever asked such things of her, not normally that is. And even when he did, he was way too sweet and empathetic to be a bully about it, always respectful of her being a human being as well.

Truth be told, that was as rare an occurrence among actors as they could come. And Mira Jepsen should know, this was her tenth movie or television series set she had worked on. She had only been hired for Supernatural about two weeks ago, but the girl could already tell that there was something special going on here. And it all started with the main actors, trickling down through the rest of the cast and crew.

The brunette caught up with her assignee as he was exiting the set, waving jovially to the others to signal that he was leaving. She had to walk double pace to keep up with his freakishly long stride that his 6’4 height allowed, but she didn’t mind.

“Mr. Padalecki, you have a flight to catch at eight PM tonight going to Chicago for the convention,” Mira read off of her clipboard as they walked toward his trailer.

“I told you already, just call me Jared,” the twenty-five-year-old actor grinned at her with that boyish charm that only he could pull off, which bled into Sam Winchester as well, especially when in-character he made those puppy dog eyes.

Mira glanced up, her greyish blue colored eyes getting caught in his hazel ones.

Yes, he had told her that before, but previous experience taught her to keep a respectful distance from the actors. It hurt your self-esteem much less if – when – they finally exploded all over you in rage for a real – or perceived – mistake you’d made. With this cast and crew though… she couldn’t help but want to give in to his request.

“Okay, Jared,” she said quickly, turning her gaze back to her paper to avoid blushing at the grin of joy he had flashed her with. “If we take traffic into account, that should leave a good hour for me to pack for you – that is if you’d like for me to pack for you – before you have to leave for the airport. Is there anything else you’d want me to take care of before leaving?”

“Wow, you talk fast,” he laughed, but there was no malice to it, just a bit of mischief twinkling in his eyes as he drank the last of his frappucino through the straw with a huge slurp, throwing the cup into the nearest trash bin. The thought of passing it to Mira for disposal never even crossed his mind.

“Just trying to be efficient,” the brunette nodded, not allowing herself to be entirely casual yet.

“First, though sweet of you, you don’t need to pack my underwear for me… that is… just disturbing,” the moppy-haired guy listed of teasingly. “Secondly… uhm… this is going to sound strange – and you don’t have to if you don’t want to – ”

“Anything. That’s what I’m here for,” she said, almost regretting the wording as a memory of a way too eager producer popped into her mind. She ended up quitting that job, but many were really happy to do just about anything or were too afraid to speak their minds, lest they were out of a job by the next morning. That was just showbiz, right?

Mira had a feeling that Jared might have noticed her slight flinch and made the connection because he was taken aback a second later.

“Nothing like _that_ ,” he emphasized, and you could tell that if he ever caught anyone trying to force themselves on anyone involved in the shooting of Supernatural he would personally see to it that offender was removed from the production.

“Okay,” the girl nodded, slightly wondering if she had hurt his feelings and this would be the point where she became persona non grata in his eyes.

Jared sighed. “Sorry, this was a bad idea…” he turned, climbing the steps to enter his trailer, apparently having given up on trying to ask her what he wanted.

“No, I’m sorry. Please, go on. What can I help you with? I’ve already called Clif to pick you and Mr. Ackles up at 5:30 PM to head out for the airport if that’s what you are worried about…” Mira trailed off.

Jared turned on his heel, clearly still conflicted.

“I know this is unusual, but…” he hesitated again. “Do you think you could come to Chicago with us?”

The PA was stumped. Although it was not unheard of for production PAs to accompany actors to different functions if show related, and Jared had clearly stated that there was no “funny business” involved, but still… Mira felt like this was asking for trouble. But Jared wasn’t finished yet.

“It’s just that… This is our first convention. I have no idea what to expect. Quite frankly, I’m a bit terrified. And it would be nice to have someone there I know I can trust to keep on top of things. I don’t want to make a fool of myself, or upset fans by being late, or I don’t know…” the actor rambled on, clearly freaking out and Mira was worried he would soon have an anxiety attack if she didn’t say anything.

“Okay,” she replied simply, his peace of mind much more important than her own reservations.

“Of course, I’ll pay for your ticket and hotel room,” Jared kept on, not seeming to have realized that she had already agreed. “I’m not expecting you to come on your own dime, and since this is not really filming, I don’t think production would cover the costs, and the convention organizers wouldn’t either since they are actually providing their own PAs or handlers or whatever…”

“Jared, it’s fine, I already said I’m going,” Mira smiled, gently touching his forearm to make sure he was paying attention to her.

His eyes snapped to where their skins met, and she quickly withdrew her hand. _Please, don’t let him be_ that _kind of actor…_ fussy about being touched at all.

“Thank you,” Jared breathed out finally. Glancing to the side for a moment to calm himself before back to her, his playfulness back on. “I’m still paying though, let’s go inside and make the reservation.”

“Let me just go grab my purse from my car with my IDs. My passport should be in there as well,” Mira suggested. Those would be needed for booking for sure, and she didn’t know the number by heart yet. _Maybe I should work on that._

“You carry your passport with you everywhere?” Jared raised one of his eyebrows dubiously.

“And see how lucky it was that I do?” the brunette winked.

“This is not the first impromptu travel you had to go on is it?” the actor deduced.

“Bingo,” she nodded, already deep in thought about the things she had to take care of in that hour or so before she had to leave. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

* * *

 

Jared watched the girl’s retreating back, counting his blessings that she was so flexible and accommodating even though he had sprung this on her last minute. She hadn’t been working on set for long, a couple of weeks tops, but she was meticulously organized and kept track of things better any of the other PAs he had before. Scary good at her job, that much he could tell. Not to mention cute.

The tall guy stopped that train of thought right there. He saw the way she had reacted to the slightest hint that he would be asking something inappropriate from her. He was sickened that something like this was even an issue women in the industry had to worried about. Nobody should have to deal with harassment at the workplace, sexual or other kind.

The actor vowed that he would never put her in a position like that, never force anything on her that she would not want. That said he had still found her cute and would have loved to get to know her a bit more. Maybe take her out for dinner.

* * *

 

Mira sighed as she approached her car, knowing full well that there was a call she had to make before leaving.

Her mom picked up on the third ring.

“Mira, honey, I’m so glad you called. Could you, please, pick up your cousin from the airport before coming over tomorrow?” Christine got to the point, assuming her daughter was calling about the schedule for tomorrow’s family dinner.

“Sorry, mom, but I can’t. I have to go out of town for the weekend for work,” the brunette broke the bad news.

“Oh,” the woman on the other end of the line exhaled, clearly disappointed. “Do you have to? I mean it’s so rare that your cousin can come home. It would have been nice to have everyone under one roof again. Your aunt was so excited as well.”

“I know, and again, I’m sorry, but something came up, and I have to go to Chicago,” the girl elaborated.

“All the way to the States? When are you leaving?” It was clear that Mrs. Jepsen was not happy.

“Tonight,” Mira said.

“A heads up would have been nice,” Christine sighed.

“Yeah, I just found out about five minutes ago as well,” the girl explained in her defense. Calling her was really the first thing she did after getting the news, there wasn’t really more she could have done.

“Just be safe, honey, okay?” she said after a few moments of pause.

“Always am, mom,” Mira replied, a little lighter in the heart that her mom wasn’t completely upset with her.

“Thank you for letting me know. Bye, hun,” and with that, she hung up.

The PA looked at her phone, shaking her head. It’s not like she was the only one working in the show business in the extended family. They knew what it was like. Though admittedly, she wasn’t the one who had made it big.

* * *

 

Jared heard a knock on his trailer door just shy of ten minutes later as promised, with Mira standing there waving her blue passport triumphantly.

“Mission accomplished,” the girl declared as she stepped inside. For a moment she had a little panic attack when she couldn’t remember the date her travel document expired, but a quick check confirmed that it was still valid till the end of the following year.

She had not seen the inside of Jared’s trailer yet. Sure, she had come and knocked on his door many times when coming to collect him for call times for shooting different scenes basically at all hours of the day, but all she got so far were tiny glimpses of the interior around the entrance. Now that she got the full view, she honestly would have thought that this was the living room of an actual house instead of a trailer lent to him by production. Equipped with a full couch, the walls accented by dark wood panels and everything.

“Good,” Jared grinned, taking it from her. “I was just getting to that part on the flight reservation site.”

“I should be the one doing it, no? I’m the PA or what,” the brunette grinned, pleased with his answering smirk.

“Knock yourself out,” he gestured at his laptop sitting on top of the coffee table, sitting down little ways down the couch to leave her some room, but still close enough so that he could keep an eye on the screen.

“So… do you think we will have a show to come back to shoot for after Christmas?” Mira broached the subject that had been on everyone’s minds for the past week. Because of the Writers Guild strike, they only had the scripts for two more episodes to film.

Everyone might be out of a job for a while after that if not indefinitely. Hopefully, Supernatural won’t get canceled even if they manage a shorter season order with the lost time.

“I’m sure the folks down in LA will settle on something sooner rather than later. That’s a huge chunk of change they are losing the longer they hold out on the negotiations,” Jared answered insightfully.

“True,” Mira nodded, filling in her info on the form online. At least Jared didn’t try to get overboard for her and started the booking process for a regular economy class ticket. She quickly logged into her account as well to make sure she got the booking info in her email inbox. “I think I’m done.”

“Cool, scoot over,” the actor shooed her away, getting ready to input his credit card info to finalize the ticket purchase, only to find that the girl had already got past that part. “Hey!”

“Don’t worry, I’m using miles I’ve had accumulated over the years,” the brunette waved him off, quickly logging out to make sure Jared didn’t have access to her account.

“Good thing I already booked and paid for your hotel room then,” was his sassy comeback.

“Good for you,” the girl teased. “You should get packing. Clif is going to be here in 40 minutes tops.”

“Time for a shower then too,” Jared stretched, making his back crack. “I stink.”

“If you say so,” the girl was at a loss as to how to react to that. Actors she had worked with before lacked any kind of humor, much less a self-deprecating one.

“You should get packed too,” the actor suggested, getting up to head for his bathroom. “I can ask Clif to swing by your place on the way to the airport.”

“I have an overnight bag in the back of my car,” she shrugged.

“Are you always this prepared?” Jared inquired, not quite sure what to make of the girl with all this new information he was finding out about her.

“Like said, impromptu trips have happened before,” Mira tried to be nonchalant. The truth of the matter was, she had been fired from a job before for delaying departure because of her own packing needs that the producer she was the PA for almost missed his flight to LA for an important meeting. Almost. And she had been given even less of a heads up than this time, so it wasn’t really her fault. She had come to expect the unexpected, especially where mercurial studio execs were involved.

“Well, worst case, I can always buy you some stuff,” the actor conceded without giving a second as to what was coming out of his mouth.

“Uhm…” the PA raised a brow at the proposition.

“Sorry that came out wrong,” he backtracked suddenly, waving his hands defensively. “I don’t know what to expect and what would constitute as proper attire at a con either. So I just meant if you are missing anything, we can take of it in Chicago.”

“Thank you,” Mira smiled in understanding, taking a deep breath then pointing at the door. “Anyway, I’m going to leave you to getting ready then. And I’ll call Clif that there is a change in itinerary.”

“Cool,” Jared gave her the thumbs up in agreement, trying very hard not get awkward around her. “And I thank you. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

Somehow that statement carried way more meaning than what was strictly applicable to the current situation.


End file.
